There's no more food left. Let's tidy up and I'll make vegetable buns this afternoon.

"Okay, we'll go right now." Since my wife gave the order, I had to do it.

So Sheng Liancheng carried his luggage into the house, threw it on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and turned to leave.

Sheng Xiping took his luggage to the west room. As soon as he entered, he found Hua Hua lying on the floor, with Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu playing around her.

"Oh, Hua Hua is home? I thought it went back up the mountain and wasn't coming back." Sheng Xiping was quite surprised to see Hua Hua.

"Oh, it comes home every four or five days now to stay for two or three days, and sometimes it even brings food home. Haven't you noticed? This guy has gotten so fat."

Zhang Shuzhen was sitting on a bench, about to start a fire, when she casually remarked.

Sheng Xiping also noticed that Hua Hua seemed to have gained weight since the Chinese New Year.

Wait a minute, how can a tiger get this fat?

Sheng Xiping found it strange, so he squatted down and reached out to touch Hua Hua's rather noticeable belly.

No, this tiger isn't fat; it looks like it's carrying something inside.

"Mom, Hua Hua isn't fat, it looks like she's carrying kittens."

"Huh?" Zhang Shuzhen and Sheng Liancheng exclaimed in surprise at the same time. "You brought a baby?"

As they talked, the two of them went into the west room and stared at the big cat lying lazily on the ground.

"Yes, Hua Hua is a female tiger, four years old this year. Normally, winter is her mating season. Judging from her current appearance, she should have come back to rest and prepare for childbirth."

Sheng Xiping chuckled and ruffled Hua Hua's big head. This girl is really clever; she even knows to go back to her parents' home to rest during her pregnancy.

"Oh dear, so Hua Hua has a baby."

"From now on, Xinhua and Xinyu will have to be careful. They can't keep rubbing Huahua like that, lest they hurt the babies inside her."

Zhang Shuzhen was overjoyed to hear this.

Hua Hua grew up in the Sheng family. Just like Erlang Shen and the Black General, the Sheng family never treated them as animals, but as family members.

It was fine if we didn't know before, but now that we know Hua Hua has a baby, we have to take it seriously.

"When will Hua Hua be able to give birth?" Sheng Liancheng asked from the side.

"May or June? It seems the tiger's pregnancy is less than four months along."

Sheng Xiping didn't know the exact time, but he had heard his master's wife mention that most tigers give birth in June.

"I wonder how many cubs Hua Hua is carrying. Oh dear, should I make some arrangements in advance? I need to get a nest for the little tiger cubs."

Sheng Liancheng became happy and began to think about how to settle Hua Hua and her child.

Since Hua Hua is able to come back to rest during her pregnancy, she must be planning to raise the cub at the Sheng family's house. We really need to make preparations in advance so that the little tiger cub will have a place to live after it is born.

Sheng Xiping shook his head, "I don't know how many there are. Usually, wild tigers don't have many offspring, maybe one or two."

Due to the harsh conditions in the wild, even if a mother tiger has multiple cubs, she will only be able to raise one or two to adulthood.

Unlike in zoos, where some animals can give birth to three or four offspring at once, and all of them can be raised with the help of zookeepers.

"Oh, okay, I'll go up the mountain tomorrow and cut some willow branches to weave a bigger flower basket for Huahua to use to raise her baby." Sheng Liancheng nodded, understanding the plan.

The father and son admired Hua Hua for a while, then quickly went down to the vegetable cellar.

The cellar was quite deep, and the temperature inside was quite low. The cabbages, radishes, and potatoes stored inside were all very fresh.

Of course, when the season comes, the radishes will inevitably become a bit pithy, and the potatoes will start to sprout.

The father and son gathered up the remaining vegetables in the cellar. Following Zhang Shuzhen's instructions, they peeled off several layers of the cabbage stalks, leaving the good parts untouched for the time being, and put the stalks into a basket before carrying it upstairs.

After finishing with the vegetable cellar, it was getting late, so the father and son decided to take a bath in the afternoon.

Sheng Xiping returned to the west room to rest for a while, only to find a letter on the writing desk.

I checked the postmark; it was mailed just a few days ago. The address looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

The letter hadn't been opened, so the family probably hadn't touched it. Sheng Xiping quickly tore off one end and took out the letter inside.

"Mom, I'm going out for a bit, I have something to take care of."

After reading the letter, Sheng Xiping rushed out of his house and headed straight for Zheng Xianyong's house.

Zheng Xianyong had just gotten home from get off work and was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) smoking when he saw Sheng Xiping come in, which puzzled him.

"Xiping, what brings you here in the middle of the day?"

"Uncle, I have something to discuss with you." Sheng Xiping sat down next to Zheng Xianyong.

"I have a friend from the south, whom I met last year when I accompanied Weimin to Shanghai to get a prosthetic leg."

He works at a furniture factory, and his factory wants to import some timber from Northeast China. He wrote to ask if I had any connections. How much unsold timber does our farm have left this year?

The letter I just read was written by a man surnamed Hou from the south.

At the time, Hou Yashuang shared a room with Sheng Xiping and Chen Weimin at a hotel in Shanghai. He was accompanying his colleague to get a prosthetic leg installed.

We lived together for over a month, and whenever we had free time, we would get together to chat, occasionally cook some good food, and have a couple of drinks. That's how we got to know each other.

Hou Yashuang is a small manager at a furniture factory in the south. Their factory used to buy timber from a higher-level timber company, which was more expensive.

Southerners are shrewd, and now that policies are loosening, they want to find some cheap timber but can't find a way. Hou Yashuang suddenly thought of Sheng Xiping.

Before leaving Shanghai, Sheng Xiping exchanged contact information with all those he got along well with.

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